Conversation: Bill Elliott

LOUDON, N.H. -- As Bill Elliott approaches his 48th birthday, he remains one of the biggest names in the sport. Elliott may not be winning as much as he did in the 1980s, when Awesome Bill from Dawsonville became a household name, but he's still a fan favorite.

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The 16-time most popular driver has won about everything there is to win in Winston Cup, from his championship in 1988 to the Daytona 500 in 1985 and '87 to the Brickyard 400 last year.

And you can't forget about the Winston Million in 1985, when Elliott won three of the sport's four crown jewels and pocketed $1 million.

Elliott tried the owner/driver route in the late 1990s, but the burden of running a team and driving the car became too much, and in 2001, he left his long-time manufacturer, Ford, for Dodge and Ray Evernham.

Elliott sat down with NASCAR.com's Lee Montgomery to talk about his stellar career, how the sport has changed and what his future will be.

It was about this time last year when you guys starting getting hot, won some poles, some races. Does this team have another run like that in them?

	Elliott is the defending Pennsylvania 500 champion.

Well, I should hope so. We've gone through a lot of changes over the winter like a lot of teams. We're just trying to get back sorted out.

We worked so hard on last year's Dodge, with the changes that NASCAR's implemented -- the body location, so on and so forth -- and we've moved some guys around on the team. Through all that adjusting, we lost a little bit.

I feel like right now we're just kinda getting back on track. We've had several pretty good races here in the last stretch. If we can get some things turned around, some things going in a good direction, we can turn it around.

Does that show just how difficult it is to win in this sport, that you haven't done that since? You were hot as anything and haven't won since.

It's all evolution. You've got to get that chemistry. We've been very competitive since. But still, having that feel and everything like you want it is hard to get. You've just got to keep building and working and keep staying competitive.

You've got to have everything come together to win one of these races any more.

Is the competition level one of the biggest changes in the sport since you started? Obviously, there's been a lot that's changed, but is the competition level the biggest one? Or something else?

The competition level has gotten a lot better. You've got a lot of cars that are equal. Plus, these cars are so aero dependent, track position's everything.

If you don't have the track position, you get back in the pack, and because of the downforce issues -- I've seen a lot of good cars get in the back and can't get back to the front. That's just the way it's going to be.

Those are the things you've got to work through and work around. Some of the race tracks are different, but for the most part, you run on speedways where you run 150, 160, 170 mph average bracket. You get in that, and everything becomes aero and downforce.

You seem very comfortable these days in your role as driver -- just driver. There's a lot less hassle, obviously, than being an owner/driver. Is that something you feel like you've earned because you've been in this so long and paid your dues, so to speak? Now you can, I won't say relax, but there's a lot less pressure.

	Ray Evernham

I think from taking my owner's cap off from two-and-a-half years ago to now has been a lot easier role. I didn't realize how bad I got bogged up in the ownership from '95 through 2000.

It was a great relationship that I had with McDonald's and those folks, but yet, I'm glad it kinda went on. With Dodge coming in and Ray being such a good personality -- and also having Jeremy (Mayfield) on the other side -- we're able to take a lot of load off of each other.

Ray's a personality himself, and he can do a lot of the hospitality or sponsorship stuff, or I can or Jeremy can. You can split the stuff up. When I had my own team, I had so many different sponsors between McDonald's and Ford and everybody else that I was trying to do.

You give them so many days, and you just ran out of time. Plus, you're having to run the business on top of that.

Did you ever have to put your foot down at some point and say 'I've been here too long, I'm doing too much. Something's got to stop.'?

It's like you get in a forest, and you don't realize how many trees there are until you get out of it. That's the thing I ran into.

I didn't realize how bad it bogged me up until I finally got away from it. Once I realized that I was being pulled in too many directions and couldn't get away from it, then you realize that you just need to sit back and drive these things.

Looking back now at that, is that something you wish you would've done a little sooner, giving up the ownership role? Obviously, you can't change that.

	Elliott was fourth at Sonoma for his top run of 2003.

I probably didn't know any better. I would probably have been in it as long as I would've had somebody who would've given the money.

If we had have re-upped, we wouldn't have gotten enough money, especially at what these guys are getting today. I didn't have a multi-car team, and that's a strike against you.

With everything that's going on today, it's so hard to secure the big high-dollar deals that you need to continue to grow your operation. If you don't have some big pockets to fall back on, which I didn't -- I took all my money and put it back into racing -- you're so apt to have something bad happen.

If the driver were to get hurt, which at the time I was the driver/car owner, then you're trying to get somebody else to drive it and it takes the chemistry out of the team. So many things are going on. That turns around and puts your team in such a tailspin that you can never get out of it.

People are still talking about the Winston Million and the whole Awesome Bill part. First off, does your wife call you Awesome Bill?

No, she calls me other things. Nah, I'm just kidding. No. It's kind of a label that got put on me, I guess, in the mid '80s from when I won the Winston Million and all the things that happened back then. It came back out last year when I won Pocono and Indy.

AUDIO CLIPS Listen to the Conversation! / 8:47 Listen

It has its times. But yet, I'm very fortunate. I'm fortunate to where I'm at, I'm fortunate to have lived through a lot of different eras in racing, I'm fortunate enough to still have a real good ride here and be able to continue to compete at this level.

I'm proud of a lot of things, I'm proud of a lot of the accomplishments I've had and a lot of friends I've met throughout the years.

If you had to pick one moment, I know it's probably impossible, but would the Winston Million be it? Winning the championship? The Brickyard 400? Something else?

They're all key points. That's what I'd say. I don't know if one's more or less important. I look back at them and say, 'Well, that came at a key time. That was an important win.' I didn't win (for) a while and came back and won at Homestead.

That was an important win. Then winning Pocono, then winning Indy. Winning Daytona back in the early years. They're all important.

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I kind of hate to bring up retirement, but I guess I don't hate it that much since I'm bringing it up. Have you given that any thought? Is it still two, three years down the road? Or do you not even like talking about it?

Right now, I really don't know. I've got the rest of this year with Ray, and then a two-year option after that. We've not really talked about it.

Right now, I just want to continue to see how I feel year in and year out and if I can continue to contribute to this race team. If I can't, I need to go find something else to do.

When you eventually do retire, will we ever see you around here again?

Oh, I'll probably be doing something. I don't know what. I'll have to figure that one out. It'll probably be a series: 'Where Is He Now?' You know? I don't know. We'll have to see.

You're a big airplane pilot. Is that something that something that could fill the competitive-juices role, getting the adrenaline flowing? You might fly more once you retire?

If I look at retirement, I'd probably look at retiring out of this series and go run dirt or some other stuff, just to keep that role going.

But nothing like the level of competition -- they're competitive, don't get me wrong -- nothing as intense week in and week as this has been, with travel and so on and so forth. A lot of those guys get into it, but I would be in it as a lesser deal. I wouldn't run for points or nothing like that.

I wouldn't mind doing something like that for a period of time. Or at least getting involved with Ray and helping him with the race team in any area. But we'll just have to see.

Would you be a car owner again? Or since you've been through that, never again?

No, I don't think I'd be a car owner again. I don't have the resources. I believe I could be a part of car-owning a team, but I could never own from the standpoint of having the amount of resources it takes to do this deal at this level.